Performance Max now takes 62% of Google Shopping spend, and 93% of retailers run it. This page gathers the measured data on Performance Max, Smart Bidding and AI Max: adoption, spend share, ROAS, overlap with Search, asset and signal effects, and what the larger Optmyzr studies found. Agency and vendor sourced figures are labeled so you can weigh them.

62%of Google Shopping spend went to Performance Max in Q4 2025 (Tinuiti via Search Engine Land)
93%of retailers ran Performance Max in Q1 2025 (Search Engine Land)
91.45%of 503 accounts had Performance Max search terms matching an exact Search keyword (Optmyzr)

Key Takeaways

  • Performance Max accounted for 62% of Shopping spend and 61% of Shopping sales in Q4 2025 (Search Engine Land).
  • In 503 Optmyzr accounts, Performance Max and Search targeted the same queries in 97.26% of accounts, and Search won on conversion rate more than Performance Max did (Optmyzr).
  • Max Conversion Value beat Max Conversions on ROAS, CPA and CPC across 14,584 Optmyzr accounts (Optmyzr).
  • Smart Bidding needs data: Optmyzr sets 50 or more conversions in 30 days as the level for predictable results.
  • Early independent AI Max tests are mixed: Google claims 14% more conversions, while a Monks test found 99% of impressions had no conversions (PPC Land).
How we compiled these statistics. Every figure on this page comes from a published report or platform disclosure including Optmyzr, Search Engine Land, Visionary Marketing and PPC Land. Each number links to its original source in the text, and the full list sits under Sources and Further Reading. Page last updated .

How Widely Is Performance Max Used?

Short answer: Performance Max took 62% of Google Shopping spend in Q4 2025, and 93% of retailers ran it in Q1 2025 (Search Engine Land).

62%of Google Shopping spend went to Performance Max in Q4 2025 (Search Engine Land)
61%of Shopping sales came from Performance Max (Search Engine Land)
39%of Performance Max spend ran on non shopping inventory such as video and display (Search Engine Land)
93%of retailers ran Performance Max in Q1 2025 (Search Engine Land)
71%Performance Max adoption in a Fluency survey, up from 60% (Fluency)
50%of PPC professionals use Performance Max often or always, and 43% plan to raise its budget (ALM Corp summary)
just under 82%peak Performance Max share of cost in the Smarter Ecommerce dataset, May 2024 (Smarter Ecommerce)
74% to 97%of Performance Max cost goes to feed based ads, median 90% (Smarter Ecommerce)
3 to 7Performance Max campaigns per account is typical (Smarter Ecommerce)
47%of Google Ads spend was Performance Max in an agency audit of 240 accounts, up from 31% in 2024 (Visionary Marketing)

Performance Max share of Google Ads spend by industry (percent)

Ecommerce and DTC
74%
Retail
68%
FMCG
62%
Travel
54%
B2B SaaS
34%
Financial services
31%
Legal
28%
Source: Visionary Marketing 2026 PMax audit, 240 accounts, January 1 to February 28, 2026. Agency published and not independently verified.
Data Note

Spend share differs a lot by sample. Smarter Ecommerce measured ecommerce accounts, Tinuiti measured Shopping spend and Visionary audited mid market accounts. All agree on direction: Performance Max is now a majority of spend in retail.

What Results and ROAS Does Performance Max Deliver?

Short answer: Optmyzr data shows Performance Max ROAS of about 616% in Q3 2024, roughly flat year over year, while cost per acquisition rose 8% to $15.15.

Optmyzr: Q3 2023 versus Q3 2024

MetricCampaign typeChangeValues
ROASPerformance Maxup 1%609.77% to 616.36%
Cost per acquisitionPerformance Maxup 8%$13.92 to $15.15
Cost per clickPerformance Maxup 6%$0.50 to $0.53
Conversion ratePerformance Maxdown 3%3.56% to 3.47%
Cost per clickSearchup 22%
Conversion rateSearchup 21%
Source: Optmyzr data via Search Engine Land.
9,199accounts and 24,702 campaigns in the larger Optmyzr Performance Max study (Optmyzr)
82%of those accounts run Performance Max alongside other campaign types (Optmyzr)
51%of advertisers put more than half their budget into Performance Max, with a ROAS of 625.03% (Optmyzr)
95% to 116%of the ROAS target Performance Max achieves (Smarter Ecommerce)
4.7 to 6.0rise in the median ROAS target, as a ratio (Smarter Ecommerce)
30+monthly conversions needed, ideally 60 or more (Smarter Ecommerce)
2.7 to 1median Performance Max ROAS in the Visionary audit (Visionary Marketing)
3.4 to 1median standard Shopping ROAS in an 84 account sub study (Visionary Marketing)
23%of audited accounts reached 4 to 1 ROAS, and 11% reached 6 to 1
5.2 and 1.4top quartile and bottom quartile ROAS in that audit

The Optmyzr study found Search showed the clearest wins over Performance Max, and Shopping also had notable wins, while Video and Display were roughly flat on ROAS. Performance Max looks best when it is the main budget and the account has data, and weakest when it competes with your own Search campaigns.

How Much Does Performance Max Overlap With Search and Brand Traffic?

Short answer: Optmyzr found Performance Max search terms overlapped an exact Search keyword in 91.45% of 503 accounts, and where results differed, Search usually won.

Optmyzr analyzed 503 managed accounts for February 2025. It did not measure cost or ROAS, because Google did not report Performance Max search term costs at the time.

Keyword overlap: Performance Max search terms matching an exact Search keyword

MeasureShare
Accounts with overlap (of 503)91.45%
Search campaigns with overlap (of 5,768)56.29%
Ad groups with overlap (of 40,642)27.86%
Source: Optmyzr.

Who performed better on overlapping keywords

MetricSearch betterPerformance Max betterNo significant difference
Click through rate28.37%15.98%55.65%
Conversion rate18.91%6.17%74.92%
Source: Optmyzr. A difference under 10% counted as insignificant.

Same query without an exact keyword match

MeasureResult
Accounts with overlap (of 511)97.26%
Search campaigns with overlap76.17%
Performance Max campaigns with overlap97.40%
Search won on CTR (424,820 terms)32.37%
Performance Max won on CTR24.21%
Search better on conversion rate7.66%
Performance Max better on conversion rate4.32%
Source: Optmyzr.
56%of Performance Max users cite black box targeting as a top frustration (ALM Corp)
41%cite opaque attribution
32%cite cannibalization of Search
64% vs 22%of audited accounts used brand exclusion in 2026 versus 2024 (Visionary Marketing)
38% to 11%brand share of Performance Max impressions with no exclusion versus maximum exclusion (Visionary)
2.4 to 3.4non brand ROAS ratio over that same range (Visionary)

Assets, Signals and New Customer Settings

These figures come from the Visionary Marketing audit, an agency study that also notes Google supplies the underlying Insights data and it cannot be independently checked. The page gives two conflicting channel splits and two conflicting new customer figures, so we use only the figures it states consistently.

2.3xROAS for asset groups with 15 or more assets versus 5 asset campaigns
19%further ROAS gain beyond 20 assets
38%underperformance for headline heavy campaigns versus balanced 15 asset campaigns
47%of campaigns include at least one video, with 41% higher ROAS
27%average ROAS lift from audience signals, though only 41% use them well and 17% use none
38%ROAS lift from Customer Match signals

Smart Bidding Statistics

Optmyzr studied 14,584 accounts that were at least 90 days old with conversion tracking and monthly spend between $1,500 and $5 million.

Max Conversion Valuebeat Max Conversions on ROAS, CPA and CPC
almost 300%ROAS advantage of Max Conversion Value over Max Conversions in lead generation accounts
10.68% vs 7.01%Max Conversions conversion rate in accounts under $10K versus $100K plus
184% vs 175%Max Conversions ROAS for the same two groups
50+conversions in 30 days gives predictable success, and no account under 25 beat accounts above 50
48.42%of accounts (7,061) used multiple bidding strategies, versus 51.58% (7,523) using one

Max Conversion Value versus Max Conversions in Performance Max data

MetricMaximize conversion valueMaximize conversions
Median cost per clickEUR 0.37EUR 0.25
Conversion rate2.22%1.98%
Average order valueEUR 106.55EUR 22.84
Source: Smarter Ecommerce. Values are in euros as published.

Most Max Conversions advertisers set no target, and those accounts saw better ROAS and CPA than the ones that did. Manual CPC was the only strategy where performance improved consistently as spend rose. Separately, Search Engine Land reported that Smart Bidding Exploration lifted conversions 19%.

AI Max for Search: What Early Tests Show

AI Max claims versus tests

SourceResult
Google claim, general use14% more conversions at similar CPA or ROAS
Google claim, mostly exact and phrase keywords27% uplift
Monks test, about 30,000 search terms99% of impressions had zero conversions
Monks test, query length31% of terms longer than 25 characters, and fewer than half matched a keyword
L'Oreal Chile, company reported2x conversion rate at 31% lower cost per conversion
MyConnect, company reported16% more leads at 13% lower cost per action
Source: PPC Land. The Monks test did not report CPA or ROAS, and the case studies do not give sample sizes.

Treat AI Max as a test, not a switch. Run it on a campaign with enough conversions, compare it to a control and watch search terms. Our Google Ads statistics and PPC statistics pages cover the wider market, and why Google Ads campaigns fail shows what happens when automation runs unchecked.

Sources and Further Reading

Every statistic on this page links to its original source. Figures were checked on October 24, 2026. Where sources disagree, we show both and say so.

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